Reimagining Mumbai’s Eastern Waterfront

Marine Drive, the waterfront boulevard along south Mumbai’s western coast, is often referred to as Queen’s Necklace because at night its streetlights resemble a string of jewels.

Around a mile away, across the narrow peninsula, corrugated metal roofs, deserted warehouses, old shipyard cranes and overgrown mangrove forests pepper the landscape. The eastern waterfront is a far cry from the expensive real estate and manicured palm trees on the other side.

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The waterfront has long been left out of the city’s development plans. But attention has turned east with the opening of a new highway connecting south Mumbai to the eastern suburbs.

“The freeway brings the east back into the city’s imagination. Once again, people have started questioning what is happening to that land,” said Pankaj Joshi, executive director of the Urban Design Research Institute.

A study published by the UDRI says the 1,800 acres of land along the east is controlled by the Mumbai Port Trust, which was formed in 1873 to facilitate trade with Britain after the opening of the Suez Canal. In the 1980s, the cotton textile mills and other manufacturing industries moved out of the city and the use of the port rapidly declined.

“This land has huge potential… if it is well-planned, it can be a prime area for development of commercial, residential and recreational facilities,” said Urvinder Pal Singh Madan, metropolitan commissioner of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, the Maharashtra state government body responsible for the city’s infrastructure.

“It’s very close to the business center of the south and the railway stations… all the possible parameters required for development are there,” said Mr. Madan. “If the land along the east is turned into residential space, people will want to go out and dance, drink, eat, watch movies and theater, all kinds of facilities will develop,” he added.

At present, around half the land is used for port activities. The other half is underused, leased to government organizations or private parties, according to the UDRI study. Informal industry — scrap iron and steel, machine repairs, ship breaking – has sprung up, and migrant laborers have established informal housing settlements.

“Part of that land today is just ruins… there are some half-broken go-downs and shanties,” said Mr. Madan. In spite of past attempts to revitalize the east, it remains desolate and eerily uninhabited.

“The Port Trust does not want this land to come into the public domain… it leases the land to private companies, but proposals to redevelop the land for the benefit of the city have repeatedly been stonewalled,” said Mr. Joshi.

The UDRI has suggested providing citizens access to the coast via a waterfront promenade, and residential development to meet the need for affordable housing.

“The port trust is unlikely to open the entire waterfront to public access at once… but we can start with redevelopment in incremental phases — perhaps at every kilometer, a small place for the public to look out at the water,” said Mr. Joshi.

Heritage structures like Sewri Fort should be restored for their archeological and architectural merit, he added.

The Maharashtra government has urged the central government to reduce port activity within the city, said Mr. Madan. “[Port activity] adds to traffic congestion and is a constraint on infrastructure… Given a choice, I would prefer the port to be outside the city,” he said.

Attempts to shift the port outside Mumbai have only been partially successful. In 1989, Jawaharlal Nehru Port was set up on the mainland as an alternative to Mumbai port. “The idea at that time was that Mumbai port would be closed, and JNP developed, but for some reason, the government of India decided to keep both,” said Mr. Madan.

The office of the chairman of the Mumbai Port Trust didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Rajanish Kakade/Associated Press

The eastern express highway in Mumbai has directed attention to underdeveloped land along the city’s eastern coast.

With the new freeway, Mumbai’s citizens are reminded of the inaccessible east and the real estate potential of its 17-mile waterfront.

“The land shouldn’t be opened up to the real estate industry… I’m afraid it would go the textile mill land way, sold to the highest bidder and turned into a high-end luxury commodity,” said Mr. Joshi, referring to the old textile mills in central Mumbai that have been developed into commercial space for the city’s elite.

Real estate prices in some areas along the east have already risen sharply. Wadala, which was previously poorly connected to the south, is becoming a hub of commercial and residential activity, said Mr. Madan. Chembur, an eastern suburb once considered far flung, is a 20-minute drive from the business center of the south.

“The freeway is fantastic,” said one commuter who lives in New Mumbai, the planned township to the city’s east. “It used to take me at least an hour-and-a-half to get to south Mumbai. Now the drive takes 45 minutes,” she said.

Shanoor Seervai is a freelance writer based in Bombay. Like India Real Time on Facebook here and follow us on Twitter @WSJIndia.

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